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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

I got me a new baby piano 5 footer and I love it to pieces. Prior to that I had and still have a klavinova(sp?) which is cool, too. But I sure love playing the piano.

Having never had a baby - so I didn't know what to do about keeping the top/lid open and open how much and how often and what about the dust? The only babies I see are on you tube videos and most of those seem to be half taken apart I guess to get the sound out for recording.

I am just a beginner so keeping the lid closed isn't a problem because I am only in book 2 of how to play the piano - when I get to the classics - six books later, I will consider opening it up. It is not a problem because I live in a shack on a highway running through the city so I only hear huge dump trucks and diesel stretch buses going by shaking the windows.

When I got the piano it came with a beautiful red cloth piano cover so I cover it all time except the keys lid, of course.

I would appreciate it if someone could give me feedback on opening the piano and handling the dust. I always wash my hands before I touch the piano. I have only had the piano 3 months.

Michael, that would be a good question for your piano technician. Mine suggested maintenance for the sound board and I bought the "kit" recommended which is a soft cloth and a metal piece for weaving the cloth along the soundboard beneath the strings. I plan to do that cleaning twice a year, just prior to the tech's visit.

I keep mine open on the low setting (probably not what it's really called).

As you age, your hands excrete less natural skin oil, kids would excreted more oil because they are young and fit. I always wash my hands before I touch the piano and I noticed on my keyboard the other day that it seemed like the keys had a grease or oil so I should probably wash before I use the keyboard, too. I think the fingerprints are lifted partly by the oils left on the hands.

"...She really enjoyed it (although I think she was shocked that we chose to move our TV out of the living room, and put in a huge piano instead..."

Many people would rather be cut to pieces with a dull knife, than to remove a television. But it is my opinion that there is no place for both instruments in a single room. You are a girl after my own heart.

We moved the TV upstairs two weeks ago, and haven't even turned it on since then! And, I have a twelve year old and eight year old. Not much of a TV family :-)I love that the grand piano is the first thing you see when you walk in our house, and not a big TV!

When I was looking for a piano teacher for myself, the first question I asked was what kind of piano they taught on. I had to make sure that it was a decent grand, since this is what I have at home.

When I was a child, I had a teacher that taught on a Steinway grand, and it was only at this time did I become serious about learning to play the piano. And, I progressed quite well, compared to previous teachers that taught on an old upright.

So, in my opinion, it is important for the student, young or an adult to learn on a decent grand piano.

Maybe in time, your Kawai will be like a new car...you will relax with it and not be real upset when it gets its first smudge.

Oddly enough, most quality uprights, well maintained, can respond more subtly than most students and teachers can play. If you insist that a teacher use a grand for teaching, I can point you to some which would be better used for firewood than piano lessons. And you will probably bypass many outstanding teachers in doing so.

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"Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn." -- Richard Henry DannFull-time Private Piano Teacher offering Piano Lessons in Olympia, WA. www.mypianoteacher.comCertified by the American College of Musicians; member NGPT, MTNA, WSMTA, OMTA

I fully agree, John. That's why I ended up going with a higher end Shigeru Kawai. Many of the grands I played, especially if they were less than 6', weren't all that much better than my upright. I really wanted to find something in a lower price range that would be a huge step above my upright, but couldn't.

Riley80.....that is my plan. We had a Halloween recital today, and I let them play their songs on the grand. The upright is for teaching/learning. Once it's polished, they get a go on the new piano. Seems to be working out just fine.

It sounds like you have made a workable decision for now. Perhaps you will find more and more than even you prefer to hear your students playing on your fine Shigura, though. The upright will lose its appeal quickly.

I wrote off my grand fully to my business, so of course I let my students play on it at every lesson.

I understand what you're saying, but the logic doesn't follow. I write off my phone, my desk, my computer, my studio filing cabinet, etc., but students never, ever touch these items. Likewise, a colleague has a harpsichord, and students seldom if ever get to play on it, but it's totally written off as a business expense. Ditto my violin (I used to teach beginning strings, years and years ago). There are many reasons for a teacher to have a special instrument which is not used or routinely used by students, and we don't have to justify this policy to students.

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"Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn." -- Richard Henry DannFull-time Private Piano Teacher offering Piano Lessons in Olympia, WA. www.mypianoteacher.comCertified by the American College of Musicians; member NGPT, MTNA, WSMTA, OMTA

Hi guys, it's been a while! Been busy performing and opening a studio with a fellow voice teacher.

Back OT, when I taught lessons from my home this past year after moving, I used my 9'2 Petrof. Most of my students are beginners, and it was a real treat for them to try it out. I didn't have any issues with them damaging the instrument at all. In the past, I've taught from a G3 Yamaha, also with no damage issues except for a key that split and I really do not know how it happened since the glue was not "unstuck". I personally think that students can be inspired by playing on a great instrument, even if they can't get out of it great sounds. It's just a treat to them. Of course, if I had a choice like the OP, I would only allow students to use it once in a while, and only those I trusted (and even then, I would let them know what the piano cost me and that if they happened to damage it, they'd have to pay to repair it :P).

As for those saying that it's not a tax write-off if students dont' play it, that isn't necessarily correct. Where do you draw the line between what a teacher plays for her own enjoyment and what she plays for her continued education so that she can be a better teacher? You cannot, and therefore, it is tax-deductible regardless if students use it or not.